The Texas Tech men's basketball team got down by 18 and fought all the way back to a single possession game before falling to No. 13 Iowa State 76-69 Wednesday, January 6th.

The Red Raiders (11-2, 1-1 Big 12), pulled to within 3 points with 3 minutes left in the game before a late rally put Iowa State (12-2, 1-1 Big 12) up for good as they scores 7 of the next 8 points in the game.

“I was really proud of our kids the way we battled back,” Texas Tech head coach Tubby Smith said. “We struggled in the first half being down by 18 points at one point and time, but we showed a lot of heart and a lot of toughness. We gave ourselves a chance, but we couldn’t pull it off. I’m impressed with Iowa State. Coach Prohm has done a fantastic job with their program.”

Justin Gray was the star off the bench for the Red Raiders getting 14 points and being a rebound away from his first career double double. Toddrick Gotcher continued his pace knocking in 12 points and 8 assists. Norense Odiase was solid inside throwing in 11points and 5 rebounds. Devaugntah Williams added 10 points to give the Red Raiders four players in double figures but was bottled up for a 3-of-15 shooting clip.

“We got a lot of good play from different people especially Justin coming off the bench the way he did,” Smith said. “I thought Matt gave us a big boost with Norense in foul trouble. Aaron has been giving us solid minutes, and our bench has been very productive. Our inside game has been pretty solid most of the season. This was one of the few times that we weren’t able to shoot more free throws than our opponent. We’ll have to look at why that’s the case.”

Texas Tech connected on 29-of-67 from the floor sparked by a 17-of-36 shooting clip during the second half. However, the Red Raiders misfired on 13 of their 15 three-point attempts and mustered a 9-of-15 effort at the foul line. The 9 made free throws are the second-lowest total on the season.

Iowa State countered with a 27-for-68 shooting effort which included an 8-for-22 mark from beyond the three-point line. The Cyclones sank an efficient 14-for-17 from the charity stripe.

Iowa State was fueled by Matt Thomas who poured in a career-high 22 points aided by six triples. Jameel McKay piled up 19 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks, while Georges Niang amassed all 14 of his points during the second half. Niang was whistled for his fourth foul with 17 minutes remaining, but the call was reversed after the officials huddled. Monte Morris provided 11 points and handed out six assists for the Cyclones.

Trailing 40-30 at halftime, Texas Tech fought back to 62-60 with 4:54 remaining. and then with 3:00 left on the clock and the score in favor of ISU at 67-64, Iowa State pieced together seven of the next eight points over a 91-second span and sunk the dagger when Thomas canned his sixth three-pointer off a shot fake on the right baseline to spark the Cyclones final response.

“I felt like we had some momentum at the end of the first half when we cut it down to 10 points,” Smith said. “If we could stay the course and stick with the game plan because we did change up our defense which got us back in the game when we went to a zone. We did gain some momentum coming back in the second half. That was my message. I told them we’ll be fine and to just keep battling."

The Red Raiders return home Saturday to square off with the Big 12 frontrunner and No. 1 Kansas at United Supermarkets Arena. The overall series with Kansas and Texas Tech has Kansas holding a 29-4 record as the Jayhawks have won 12-straight in the series beginning on Jan. 16, 2010. Texas Tech holds a 3-7 record in the USA and have all of their victories in Lubbock.

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